


Custody

by JoAsakura



Series: a tale in three parts (with an epilogue) [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-13
Updated: 2012-03-13
Packaged: 2017-11-01 21:53:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/361670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoAsakura/pseuds/JoAsakura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If there's one thing a pilot's good at, it's trash talk.</p><p>Played A LOT of ME3 last week and this has been rattling around in my head since I finished my first playthru.  Had to get it out of my brain to make room for other things.  Spoilers to a degree, as last scene takes place near the end of the game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Custody

Ever since he'd felt Shepard's hand (surprisingly small for someone so... big in presence) on his shoulder, Cortez realised that he might possibly be falling in love again.

He had heard stories about Shepard when he'd first come aboard the Normandy as part of the retrofit team - and had expected the man was a ten-foot-tall reaper killing machine with plasma venting out of his pores. Not..this.

Driven, yes. Dedicated to a fault. Slightly below earth-average height and all compact, gene-enhanced muscle filled with seemingly inexhaustible energy. But then Cortez had taken the moment to really, truly look Shepard in the eyes. Pale blue-green, and haunted by too many ghosts. Burdened with a task that no one set of human shoulders should ever be asked to bear.

So much weight on him, and he still gave that precious strength to Cortez as he stood in front of the memorial wall in the docking bay, saying goodbye, finally.

It was weeks later they'd shared a kiss, boozy and awkward and full of need on Purgatory's dance floor, hidden in the press of bodies in the dark. Shepard touched his face briefly, sea-coloured eyes glazed. He was gorgeous, right then and there, Cortez thought, pale skin picking up the colours of the light show playing across the dance floor.

Then, he'd gently pushed Cortez away. "I'm sorry." the commander mumbled. "You're a good friend, Steve."

Cortez hadn't pushed it, grabbed them both one for the road, and watched Shepard retreat from the bar. He knew that look. He'd carried the burden of his feelings for Robert for long enough to know that despite their mutual attraction, Shepard still held a torch for someone else.

~~

He just hadn't expected it to be Major Alenko, newly arrived from the Citadel. he should have guessed, by the way Shepard had made a beeline to Huerta Memorial every time they'd first docked at the Citadel, after their narrow escape at Mars, but the commander had kept it well hidden under a layer of concern for an old friend. But seeing them together, Shepard's body language, they way he leaned into the Major when they spoke, they way he looked at him as they gathered their weapons.

Cortez found himself equal parts disappointed that it wasn't him that Shepard was looking at that way, and aggravated that Alenko just. didn't. seem. to. get. it.

so, Cortez decided to continue a healthy regimen of flirting with his commanding officer, enjoying the startlingly shy smiles that Shepard would bust out afterwards. It was good, he thought. Shepard-the-man needed to know people cared about *him*, not shepard-the-goddamn-saviour-of-the-galaxy.

It was a few more weeks before the major *did* finally get it, EDI "innocently" letting the information drop during a conversation about rerouting a new power coupling to the shuttle bay, and Cortez wasn't sure how he felt about that. He still flirted and bantered with the commander, and he ached to kiss him again. And Alenko seemed to be moving forward with all the speed of a constipated elcor.

something had to be done.

~~

It would be several hours before they received the go signal to move against the Illusive Man's station, the fleet massing beyond his system. Every crewmember that could be spared was given the luxury of some downtime, to rest up, and Cortez knocked back a drink, then four, in the lounge, building up his confidence.

And so was Alenko. The major was holding a bottle of booze already, untouched, obviously saving it for something. "Going to visit the commander, Major?" Cortez asked as he followed him out into the corridor, voice low.

"Maybe." Kaidan responded, looking at the bottle in his hand. "You know. He talks about you an awful lot, lieutenant. Maybe more than most people normally would about their shuttle pilot." It wasn't condescending, but there was a sly note in the major's voice. "You and he..."

"There might have been something.. " Cortez leaned against the wall in the lift as they entered. "But he was really hung up on someone." Something started to form in the back of his brain. An idea. Possibly not a good one, but if there was one thing a fighter pilot had to be good at, was quick decision making. "Someone with really bad people skills."

"Hn." Kaidan looked at the bottle. "I'm not going to apologise, Cortez." He started. "I.."

"I have a proposition." Cortez blurted out, before he could talk himself out of it. "It's clear.. we both care for shepard." Alenko made a sputtering noise in response, and Cortez continued right over it. "And it's clear that both of us desperately want to be up there with him, letting him know that he's loved and he's not alone and my god, that he's going to get fucked senseless."

The major turned faintly red. "I don't think this is the time to be dueling with pistols at dawn for the hand of John Shepard, lieutenant."

"I'm saying, we can fight for who gets custody of his glorious self after we kick those reapers to hell and back, Major."

"...are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Are you chicken, or are you in?" A small part of Cortez's brain passed out from the resulting imagery, but he pressed the issue, poking a finger at Alenko's chest.

There was a long pause then the major narrowed his eyes. "Hell yes."

~~

Shepard had been, by turns, confused and surprised when Cortez and Alenko invited themselves in, bottle of whiskey and glasses in tow. Emotions that turned into an almost-heartbreaking relief and delight when whiskey turned to kisses.

"You both..?" Shepard rasped, straddling Kaidan's lap, his head tipped back to meet Cortez's mouth as his two supposed subordinates stripped away the battered leather jacket the commander had clung to since coming onboard.

"The lieutenant suggested we fight for custody of you later, Shep." Kaidan joked as he pushed his hands beneath the commander's shirt. "For now, just remember..."

"You're not alone." Cortez finished, whispering against Shepard's throat. "never alone."


End file.
